Yiwu hires high-level govt employees on contract

China's civil servants used to be tenured roles, but it is no longer a lifelong position with an iron rice bowl. The local government of Yiwu in East China's Zhejiang province recently hired its first batch of high level civil servants--all on contract.

Five new civil servants are set to begin their work in Yiwu. Unlike the regular hiring system, these government employees are contract-based. Li Jinlong is one of them.

"I have a doctor's degree, and had my previous experience as a senior engineer in harbor logistics. When I saw the position opening, I just gave it a try. At the end of last year, I got a call, and came for an interview. The interview process was quite open and fair, with both government officials and industrial experts as interviewers." Li Jinlong, director to be of Yiwu Transportation Bureau's Port Management, said.

"For logistics development, the candidate needs to have rich professional knowledge and excessive practical experience in the field." Jin Gengzhong, vice director of Modern Logistics Dev't Dept., at Yiwu City, said.

These contract-based jobs offer salaries starting at 300,000 yuan per year, or around 50 thousand US dollars, and can go up to 600,000 yuan--That's nearly three to six times the annual income of the city's regular civil servants. Government officials say, the high salary is decided after negotiations.

"You want to come to take the job, and we want to hire you. Unlike traditional civil servants, the salary level and other benefits of contract-based employees all come from mutual agreement. " Cai Zhuxian, deputy director of Yiwu's Municipal Organization Department, said.

Yiwu's local government is the first to hire for management positions on a contract basis, but other cities have enacted changes to employment for their government jobs. Shenzhen had initiated China's first contract-based civil servant scheme in 2007, gradually adopting a policy that all newly-hired civil servants were hired under contract in 2010.